The Worst Is Over
by notimari
Summary: Seeking a good environment away from her old town, Ami Koizumi's parents send her away to live with her goofy amazon cousin. Her past is nothing to smile about but young Ami is determined to be happy. Thing is, she can never trust guys again. Or can she?


**Heya! You know the drill. I don't own any of the actual people from Love*Com. Heard me? 'Cause I'm too lazy to say it again. Oh and if you see any words missing an 'n' it's because my laptop's 'n' button is really hard to press . so sometimes when I'm rushing... I don't press it hard enough. Sorry.**

**Please enjoy!**

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They should of just screamed their whispers in my face.

"Did you hear what she did?" One would say.

"Yeah I heard she cheated on him with Shin-senpai's best friend." The other would reply.

"Skank." This one insult was never too quiet. They wanted me to know how much of a horrible person they thought I was. How much of a whore I was. But they didn't know what really happened. They didn't know anything. They never do.

The teasing didn't bother me much until _he_ came back. He came back to enhance the rumors that he started in the first place. He walked around with his eyes on the floor all the time, acting as if he truly was the one that got hurt, as if I was the one who betrayed him. The girls fell for it like idiots, and the guys...well they've been in on it since the beginning, and the one who weren't fell for Shin's sob story eventually. Ha, what an actor he was.

It wasn't much longer until the bullying started. The girls thought they had the right to treat me like trash, kick me like trash, throw me like trash. The girls weren't that bad, I could fend them off quite well... he hated it. He hated everything that I was doing, rather... he hated that I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't defending myself, I wasn't saying anything, I wasn't hurt. He wanted me to hurt.

"Oh you think you're strong. We'll see how strong you are." He whispered to me as he passed me in the hallway.

That's when the boys came.

"Come on baby, you'll have anyone won't you?"

They were stronger than the girls.

"Yeah why don't we have some fun?"

But I fought back as hard as I could.

"Damnit. You bitch."

They hurt. They really hurt. And _he's_ the cause of it all.

I remember being saved by the gym teacher who had heard noises coming from the storage room. I remember feeling cold, and I remember going home. My parents went insane, they called up the school, they called Shin, they tried to press charges, they watched out for me. I was just numb. A shell of a person. I didn't want to deal with any of this anymore, so... I made them drop the charges, I made them stop calling, I stopped existing to a town that wouldn't believe me if I told them the truth. _He_ was the one cheated, I just made the mistake about finding out about it and dumping him.

That was a month ago.

I breathed against the window of my mother's car, and watched as my breath stuck to the cold glass. I twirled a my light pink hair around my finger as I watched the houses pass me by. I was moving in with my cousin Risa Koizumi, and going to a different school. I couldn't go back to my old school. My very town wasn't even safe anymore, I couldn't leave the house without being yelled at...so I just stopped leaving the house. I was content with living in my room with a computer and food for the rest of my life but my parents thought otherwise. They missed me being a normal teenage girl. So they filed a restraining order on Shin and are in the midst of shipping me to Risa's apartment. I was excited to start over, to see Risa everyday... but my parents had been protecting me for such a long time that being so vulnerable was unsettling.

My mom stopped car when we reached this apartment complex. "Here," She said as she handed me a set of keys. "She's apartment 205, go say hi. Your father and I have the bags."

I gave her a sad smile, she was trying so hard to be brave. I knew that leaving me here made her nervous. Ever since the incident she's been very protective, which is understandable, but she knew that I needed was to start fresh and new.

I took the keys from her hands, and headed for the stairs. "205...205," I counted down the doors. I stopped in front of a red door, the number 205 stared me in the face and I took a deep breath. Here we go. I raised my hand and knocked on the door. A loud clatter came behind the wood before Risa actually got to the door. I took a step backward when the door violently slammed open.

"WELCOME AMI!" She screamed and popped some confetti stuff in my face.

I blinked at my pink haired cousin and spit out a few pieces of confetti before we both locked eyes and started cracking up. "Hey Risa!" I gasped between my laughs.

"Oi! Koizumi you broke the vase on your way to the door, idiot." I heard some guy's voice from behind Risa. I eased up on my laughter, wiping at the happy tears before I laid my eyes on the source of the voice. It was a short red-headed boy. He didn't look up at me once as he picked up the pieces of broken vase.

"Oh, sorry." Risa giggled, straightening out her back and standing up fully.

"What the?" I screamed looking up at Risa. "When did you get this tall? I mean you were always tall but never..._this_ tall!"

Risa blushed, "Yeah, I grew."

"Lucky," I laughed, scratching the back of my head. "I'll be 153cm forever."

"Did I just hear 153cm?" The boy spoke, running to the door to meet me. "It's so nice to meet you! When I heard that another Koizumi was coming to live with us I thought I would be put in a house with two amazons! I'm so happy you're shorter than me!"

I laughed, "Yeah, my mom is 149cm so I caught her short genes-wait..." I processed what he had just said once more. He said 'live with _us_' didn't he? "D-Did you say... us?"

"Yeah, us. This is our apartment." He shrugged pointing to Risa. "Koizumi didn't tell you?"

I glared at Risa, who seemed to be purposely avoiding my eyes. A boy? She's living with this...short guy? Is she freaking kidding me? I turned back to her short boyfriend. "No, she told me AND MY PARENTS nothing of you living with her. So you better make up a lie as to why you're here quick, because my parents are walking up the stairs."

The small boy turned to Risa and started yelling at her about being irresponsible and stupid. Risa began to yell incomprehensible babble and I just stopped listening. My parents were walking right up to me and they needed a lie now. "Hey mom, dad."

The couple froze mid-fight to turn and say hello. I rolled my eyes at the hopeless two. I guess I'm going to have to do this myself. "Mom, Dad, this is Momo." I introduced the boy to them. I saw him flinch at the name but I continued, "He treats Risa like she's his older sister, he's such a kid." I laughed, really selling them the story. "3rd year middle schooler right? Risa?" I asked my dumbfounded cousin.

She hesitated before she understood what I had asked her, "Actually Ami, he's a 2nd year in middle school. Kids can be sooooo clingy to their 'older sisters', but that's okay because he's just so cute!" She squealed pinching, the annoyed boy's face. "Well, why don't you head on home...Momo!"

He glowered at us before he forced himself to smile at my parents and he walked away. "Have a nice day." He hissed.

"What a cute boy!" My mother praised him. "Well, anyway... I guess... it's time to see you off."

My heart sank, "A-Already? You're not going to stay for a bit?"

My father frowned and kissed my forehead, "The longer we stay, the harder it gets."

I understood, It was what was best. I nodded. "I'm going to miss you." I smiled, a tear escaped my eye and I hugged my parents.

"We love you!" They screamed in unison.

"You practiced this didn't you?" I laughed. I squeezed them with all of my strength. I was seriously going to miss them. I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes, and I let go. I lowered my head, allowing my blonde bangs to shield my eyes. "Well, you guys should go." I smiled as the tears ran down my face. They didn't move. That made it worse. "Come on," I sobbed, trying to wipe the tears. "Just go."

They kissed my forehead and walked away, leaving me to cry in the doorway. It was the first time I had been without my parents since the incident, and being without them made me feel like the only one in the world. In the midst of all of my panicking and self pity, a hand rested on my back. I turned around to a sympathetic Risa smiling at me.

"Let's go inside okay?" She pulled me inside, "OTANIIII! YOU CAN COME IN NOW!"

She let me cry for a bit, her hand still pulling me to the living room. My tears finally started easing up and I sat down next to the table. "You done crying?" Risa asked gently.

I nodded, still attempting to wipe my tears. I probably looked like a complete baby. "I'm sorry." I apologized. "I'm such a baby."

Risa grabbed my hand, "Don't you dare apologize! You have every right to cry after everything you've been through."

I flinched. I forgot that Risa knew about what happened, and why I was sent here in the first place. For a while there I had almost forgotten because I was so focused on my parents leaving. The emotions startled me a bit, and I took a sharp breath. "I guess." I admitted, trying to ignore the hole growing in my chest.

BANG.

We whipped our heads toward the doorway and watched a very angry ginger stomp towards Risa. "Oh so did you come to see your older sister Momo?" Risa laughed, teasing him.

"I should punch you." He growled. The kid bent down and flicked Risa in the forehead, while pulling on a loose piece of hair that had fallen out of her bun.

"Ow!" She giggled, shying away from him.

My body went ridged, and I clenched my fists. On my way to get up and protect Risa, the kid's frown flipped into a smile and he touched his forehead to Risa's. "I hate you." He laughed.

She laughed and embraced the touch, "I love you too."

They were just playing. I relaxed and my straight expression softened. This kid isn't like Shin. Risa is okay. "Sorry for the story," I explained. "It's just my parents would have-"

"No need to apologize!" The boy interrupted. "You did it to protect Koizumi because she never told your parents about me. I should be thanking you, and KOIZUMI should be apologizing." He scolded his girl friend.

I laughed, "It's no problem. By the way, thank you for taking me in. I'll get a job and help pay rent."

"It's our pleasure!" The couple said simultaneously. They turned and glared at each other, "Stop that...NO YOU... UGH!" they fought in perfect harmony. I couldn't help but to crack up. They were hilarious.

Risa stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend before she looked at me again and smiled, "Don't worry about looking for a job. I have one for you already."

"Really? That's awesome! Where?"

"Ikebe, a restaurant. Where I work!"

I nodded in approval. Work is money, and money is what I needed so any job will do. "Oh! Momo, I never got to actually learn your real name."

"Otani." He answered, a warm smile on his face.

"That's a nice name. I'm Ami Koizumi. Call me Ami though please, it'd be really confusing if you called us both Koizumi."

He nodded agreeing with me. "Ami it is."

"I just remembered! I got your favorite food!" Risa smiled excitedly and ran to the kitchen, leaving Otani and I at the table.

We sat there in silence for a while. I was no good with boys, I didn't ever fully trust them. I know that I had no reason to not trust Otani, but I had no reason to trust him either...did I? I resorted to twisting my hair around my finger again before Koizumi broke the silence by walking in with a vanilla and strawberry cake, and cups filled with melon soda. "Here you go! Welcome Ami!"

My smile stretched from ear to ear. I missed this, it reminded me of when I was little and we would beg our parents to buy this exact meal for us. I got teary eyed, but these were happy tears, "Thanks."

The odd couple smiled kindly at me and helped me cut the cake. "To a happy future!" They said in synch, holding up their cups.

I smiled, "To a happy future." I clinked my cup with theirs.

We talked about normal things for a while. The conversation was about how they got together, how school would be for me, friendship in general, everything but my past. That was until Otani popped the fatal question, "So..." He gently approached the subject. I knew it had to come out sooner or later, but...ugh I didn't want to do this right now. "What happened to you?"

Risa choked on her soda, "Otani!"

"Hey. I should know. It's not fair that there's a secret being hid from me in my own house." He whispered in an annoyed tone.

I understood his frustration. I'm sure Risa didn't tell him anything, just that her cousin _needed_ a place to stay. It wouldn't be fair to keep a secret in the house, but that understanding didn't make it easier for me to tell him. I hesitated, "R-Risa, it's okay. I'll tell him." I drew in a deep breath and looked down at my fizzing soda, "It happened a month ago. The short story is I was dating an older guy, and he wasn't very nice. I caught him cheating, and I broke up with him. He said that girls never broke up with him and he was going to make my life a living hell. He did. That's really it."

Silence. I didn't dare to look up at them, scared to see their reactions. "Bastard." Otani hissed and slammed his cup onto the table.

I looked up, shocked at his emotion. Otani barely knew me, why would he get so angry over a story? Risa was also making an angry expression. She tightly gripped her cup, but she had the story before, so I'm guessing that she was a little numb to the news.

"Don't worry. You're safe here with us now." Otani's frown softened again and he ruffled my hair. I blushed, so shocked that such a brotherly act could come from a guy I just met.

"Otani's not a bad guy." I whispered to myself. I could be safe here. This was the start of the rest of my life, and I was happy that it was with these two.

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